News and Analysis

World Forum of Intellectuals and Artists in VenezuelaEnds with Pledge of Permanent Anti-Globalization Office in Venezuela

By: Robin Nieto - Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, December 6, 2004--The World Forum of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity closed yesterday with words from Argentine Nobel peace prize laureate, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and President Hugo Chavez and a concert that included Cuban music legend, Pablo Milanes.

President Chavez pledged to provide an office and resources in Venezuela to initiate a "network of networks" of social organizations and institutions around the world working to build alternative models of development in the face in globalization.

Chavez made the announcement at last night's event, which took place in downtown Caracas, was free of charge, and attended by the approximately 350 intellectuals and artists, Venezuelan government cabinet members, and over two thousand spectators.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel peace prize winner for his work in raising the issue of human rights violations in Latin America, read the final conclusions of the forum, entitled "The Caracas Declaration." The declaration outlines the need to build a front of global resistance against the project of domination that today is imposed by the current government of the United States of America and global organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Let's get to work intensely," Chavez said. "Let's put the ideas concluded at this forum to work, let's make it a reality."

The office for the network of networks is be started in 2005 in Venezuela that will connect the five continents of the world, America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, and will include the widest possible participation. "Let' s take this network everywhere we go, in the valleys, the mountains, the barrios, the workplace, the study halls, the military barracks and extend this network across the planet Earth," said Chavez.

Chavez noted the need to study the original principles of socialism as well as its errors. The President of the one of the world's largest exporters of oil referred to the importance of early 20th Century Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky's ideas, embodied in "The Permanent Revolution" and how it explains that there are no national solutions to global problems, referring to the need for a global effort to deal with today's challenges.

Chavez warmly greeted the families of "the Cuban Five," referring to five Cuban men imprisoned in the United States, accused of espionage for their role in participating in anti-terrorism monitoring of extreme right-wing groups in Miami. The five are currently serving life sentences in the U.S. and families are touring the country as part of an international campaign to free their relatives (www.freethefive.org).

President Chavez also announced the inauguration today of the Bolivarian Peoples Congress, which coincides with Chavez's first electoral victory of December 6, 1998, when he won the presidency of Venezuela. "This was the day that opened this path, thanks to the consciousness of the people," Chavez said.

One of the participants at this meeting was José Augustin Guevara, another brother of the two Guevara brothers who have already been arrested in connection with the case. The other Guevara family member to have been arrested, Juan Bautista Guevara, is a cousin of the three brothers and is suspected of having planted the bomb on Danilo Anderson's car. Eyewitnesses place him at the scene shortly before Anderson's car exploded.

José Guevara, the eldest of the three Guevara brothers, has been living in Miami since 2001, when he was detained by the FBI in connection with the search for Peru's fleeing spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. The FBI had detained him for attempting to withdraw money from one of Montesinos' bank accounts. It is said that the Guevara brothers were paid $1 million for hiding Montesinos in Venezuela, while he was on the run from Peruvian justice, where he was wanted in connection with corruption and human rights abuses.

José Guevara was released by the FBI shortly after his detention and has ever since been in under FBI protection as a witness.

Attorney General's Office to take over investigation from the police

Venezuela's Attorney General's Office has removed the investigation of the Anderson murder from the country's investigative police because of irregularities that have occurred during the investigation. The investigation will now be conducted by the same team that is investigating the April 2002 coup attempt.

One of the reasons for the move is that investigators from the Attorney General's office have raised concerns that the investigative police, the CICPC, has been leaking information to suspects, due to some officer's close ties to the Guevara brothers, who once were members of the investigative police themselves.

Also, a number of irregularities have occurred during the investigation, so that several searches and raids were conducted without the presence of officials from the Public Ministry, as is required by law.

A recent raid on Caracas' Jewish school (Club Hebraica) raised eyebrows and outrage among many Venezuelans and especially the opposition because it is a school for children and any connection with the Anderson case seemed remote at best. Later, though, investigators said that they searched the school because a suspicion had been raised that weapons that were stored at a shooting club, Club Magnum, had been transported and hidden at the school. The police, however, did not find anything at the school. Another reason the incident caused consternation is that at this raid too no representative of the Public Ministry was present.

The investigation will be supplemented by other CICPC officers from the homicide division, who do not have any personal relationship with the arrested Guevara brothers.

Until Thursday 18th November, Venezuelans had been enjoying a period of
relative calm. The re-affirmation of President Hugo Chávez in the
recall referendum and his government's landslide victory in recent
regional voting had persuaded most of the opposition to simply wait for
the 2006 general elections.

Then came the assassination of Danilo Anderson. The 38-year old
State Prosecutor was blown up in his car by two attached bombs with
remote control detonation, after attending a graduate class at the
Bolivarian University. Two suspects in the murder were killed in
shoot-outs with police during the following week, and two others have
been arrested.

Danilo Anderson was leading the case against the "golpistas" (the
coup-plotters who had orchestrated the kidnapping of Chávez and the
overthrow of his democratic government in April 2002) and was only days
away from formally presenting his case, having just issued over 400
subpoenas.

No-one has gone to jail for the coup, although the signing-in book
for dictator-for-a-day Pedro Carmona's inauguration reads like a Who's
Who of the Venezuelan oligarchy. The Supreme Court ruled that there was
not enough evidence that a coup had taken place; rather there had been
a "power vacuum" which the top-dog oil-man happened to fill.

However, fascinating proof of how far the coup-conspiracy stretched
has emerged from Chávez' recent visit to Spain, where Foreign Minister
Miguel Angel Moratinos revealed on state television that the previous
Aznar government had actually instructed its ambassador in Venezuela to
support the coup.

Also, a top secret CIA document titled "Venezuela: Conditions
Ripening for Coup Attempt", was obtained through a Freedom Of
Information Act (FOIA) request by Eva Golinger, a New York-based
lawyer. The memo was written on April 6th 2002 - just five days before
the coup.

The CIA has a long history of sabotage aimed at progressive
movements in Latin America, from paramilitary terrorism against the
Sandinistas in Nicaragua to the assassination of Allende in Chile. The
Chávez government's policies of wealth redistribution and spending oil
profits on free healthcare, education and housing makes it a prime
target for attack.

Golinger also discovered that, since 2001, the US government has
channelled over $20-million to forces fiercely opposed to President
Chávez. Three-quarters of it came from the National Endowment for
Democracy (NED), a quasi-governmental entity entirely funded by
Congress and widely perceived to be a CIA-front.

Danilo Anderson, the murdered prosecutor, was trained to follow the
money - in this case, from the United States. Venezuela, like most
countries, has strict laws about this: it is illegal for any
organisation in Venezuela to take money from a foreign power in order
to influence elections. (If this seems overly harsh, consider the
outrage if, say, Libya were to start funding the Respect party here!)

One such organisation is Súmate, who spearheaded the August
referendum campaign against Chávez, and according to Golinger's FOIA
research has received more than $3-million through the NED. Despite
claiming the money was used "just for teaching", it is also being
charged with creating a parallel electoral council in an attempt to
illegally influence the referendum result.

In early November, the president of the NED, Carl Gershman, made an
unprecedented visit to Venezuela to defend the company's interests.
After being refused an audience with Chávez, Gershman tried to lobby
both the Attorney General and the President of the Supreme Court to
have the case against Súmate dropped.

One day after he left, empty-handed, a letter was released from 70
"international democrats" (most of whom are financially connected to
the NED) demanding a halt to the Súmate trial. In response the
Venezuelan Ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, called for a
formal investigation into the NED's funding and activities in
Venezuela.

Gershman's visit wasn't totally in vain. Less than a week later,
the Supreme Court ruled that Súmate's directors, María Corina Machado
and Ricardo Estévez, should be released on bail because they posed no
flight risk (unlike the other rich "golpistas" who'd gone into hiding,
most ending up in Miami).

The following day, Danilo Anderson was murdered.

Although some on the right-wing are publicly hinting that Chávez
himself was behind the assassination (for the same reason he staged the
coup, to crack down on dissent) most eyes are focussing on two places:
Colombia and Miami.

It is not long since 130 Colombian paramilitaries, dressed in
Venezuelan military uniforms, were arrested on a ranch just outside of
Caracas. The Anderson car-bombing is very much in their style, as well
as that of the CIA. Coup-leader Carmona sought asylum in the Colombian
embassy shortly after he was placed under house-arrest.

But also to consider are the Venezuelan "exiles", undergoing
military training in the Florida Everglades with their Cuban
counterparts for several years now. Most openly call for the
assassination of Chávez, and earlier this year General Felipe Rodriguez
declared from Miami that he was commencing a clandestine guerrilla
civil war.

The US has been asked by Venezuela repeatedly for their help in
capturing and extraditing these would-be terrorists, but Washington's
only public comment has been that it's "not necessarily a crime" for
terrorists to train on US soil - as long as their terror isn't directed
against the US.

Terror directed by the US is another matter. After the Spanish
revelations, the Bush administration claimed they had indeed "alerted
President Chávez to coup plots" - presumably their own! If this attack
is a taste of their second term priorities, at least it shows how
desperate they're getting.

As always, the ultra-right will end up shooting themselves in the
foot, and this unprecedented act of aggression will only serve to
radicalise the progressive government, unite a class war-weary country
and earn Venezuela sympathy, support and solidarity around the world.

As John McDonnell MP wrote on November 23rd in Early Day Motion
127, the car-bombing "is a further attempt to destabilise the country
by those ... who refuse to respect the will of the Venezuelan people".
Find out if your MP has signed this EDM at http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=126 and put pressure on them if they haven't!

The UK Bolivarian Circle and Hands Off Venezuela (London) will be
having a candlelit vigil outside the Venezuelan consulate, Grafton Way,
W1 (off Tottenham Court Road, nearest tube Warren Street) on Thursday
December 2nd from 6pm. This will be two weeks after the assassination
of Danilo Anderson and we invite anyone who cares about Venezuela, of
whatever political stripe, to join us in condemning this barbaric and
cowardly act of intimidation. Please wear black.

Washington opposes Venezuela arms build-up

The Bush administration on Tuesday made plain its opposition to Hugo Chávez's arms procurement programme, in particular the Venezuelan president's plans to buy Russian fighter jets.

“Let me put it this way: we shoot down Migs,” a senior administration official said when asked whether the intended purchase concerned the US government.

The forthright remark was quickly clarified by Sean McCormack, the National Security Council spokesman at the White House, who said the comment simply reflected the fact that Venezuela's arms build-up “is clearly an issue that we monitor closely”.

But the unequivocal criticism of Venezuela's arms purchases underscores Washington's hostility towards the Chávez government and concern that Russia is arming a country viewed by the US as a destabilising force in the region.

At the end of a visit to Moscow last weekend, Mr Chávez said his government would take delivery of 40 helicopters from Russia and he had agreed to buy 100,000 semi-automatic rifles. The move is expected to be followed by Venezuela's acquisition of the most advanced model of the Mig-29 fighter jet.

Reports in recent weeks suggest Mr Chávez wants as many as 50. The senior Bush administration official, who was briefing on President George W. Bush's meetings with Paul Martin, Canada's prime minister, answered a question about whether the US was concerned about Venezuelan arms purchases by saying: “It should be an issue of concern to the Venezuelan people. Millions of dollars are going to be spent on Russian weapons for ill-defined purposes.”

Anxieties have already been voiced in Colombia about the arms build-up in neighbouring Venezuela, a concern to the rightwing government of President Alvaro Uribe as it seeks to defeat the insurgent army of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The US strongly supports the Colombian army. Mr Chávez, a left-leaning former army officer whose government has faced strong opposition for much of the past six years, has said the new armaments are defensive: “Venezuela is not going to attack anyone.” Mr Chávez has opposed the US since being briefly unseated in a coup in 2002 which he insists was planned by the Bush government. The prospective Mig purchase comes at a testing time for Washington-Moscow relations. Mr Bush has grown alarmed at the apparent deterioration of democracy in Vladimir Putin's Russia and finds himself on the opposite side to the Russian president over the disputed Ukraine elections.

Attorney General Rodriguez says he received a letter contained a macabre reference to a "Christmas bonus complete with vacation, just like the one given to Danilo Anderson."

Special prosecutor Danilo Anderson, who was investigating the short lived coup of April 2002 against President Hugo Chavez, was killed in a car bomb attack last November 18. Rodriguez said that despite the threats prosecutors would continue in their efforts to determine who masterminded Anderson's murder.

According to Interior & Justice Minister Jesse Chacon, investigators are on the trail of those who instigated and financed the attack ... three people have already died during the investigation, a police office and two suspects.

One of the suspects ... 32-year-old attorney Antonio Lopez, the son of prominent members of the Christian Democratic (Copei) party, killed police officer Luis Pavon near Caracas' Plaza Venezuela before being gunned down by one of Pavon's fellow officers.

A police raid on Lopez's parents' home turned up an arsenal that included assault rifles, grenade launchers and anti-tank mines ... as well as explosives and devices similar to those used in the attack on Anderson.

Another suspect, Juan Sanchez, died in a shootout in the city of Valencia ... he was allegedly heading to Maracaibo to catch a flight to the United States.

Guevara brothers, Otoniel and Rolando ... former high-ranking officers in Veenzuela's police force ... have been linked to Anderson's murder, along with their cousin, Juan Guevara. Prosecutors have charged all three Guevaras with "premeditated homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide."

Open letter to President
Hugo Chavez from Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network

We hear the
news about your fourth trip to Iran with some concern. We believe that the Iranian regime
is using your name and popularity among the Latin American masses, and progressive and
anti-globalisation activists throughout the world, to falsely present a similar image for
itself.

Your
Excellency, this regime is fundamentally different from your government which enjoys
popular support that has been demonstrated many times (including the August referendum).
This is a regime which came to power by crushing the mass movement of a quarter of the
population against poverty and against dictatorship. That movement was led by the workers
of Iran. Instead of helping the beginnings of workers’ control over industry they
imposed a religious dictatorship which eventually made the workers’ living and
working conditions worse than during the reign of the pro-American Shah.

Workers in
Iran have no right to strike, no right to form their independent organisations and are
seeing successive amendments to the limited Labour Code which exclude ever larger sections
from any legal protection. The most vulnerable workers - women - find themselves at the
total mercy of the bosses and managers. The situation is particularly bad for women who
are the sole breadwinner of their families.

During this
year’s May Day celebrations dozens of people were beaten and arrested simply for
attending a public rally. The ongoing court case involving activists in Saghez, in Iranian
Kurdistan, stands as a clear testament to the lack of rights, arbitrary treatment by the
legal system, and the absence of any official accountability. There is nobody in
parliament or any government post that is in favour of workers being in control of the way
they work and the way they live. At the same time, the regime’s elite, their
families, and a whole array of officials and supporters, are amassing great wealth from
the country’s oil and gas revenue. While the numbers of unemployed (about 3.5
million), street children (over 200,000), prostitutes (around 300,000) and destitute
people reach higher and higher levels, the Islamic Republic’s highest authorities are
pouring their vast wealth into foreign bank accounts.

The current
high price of oil is in no way benefiting the Iranian masses: there are no special health
clinics being set up for the poor, no doctors being brought in from abroad, no extra money
is being spent on fighting illiteracy or reducing poverty. In fact new measures are being
taken to sell 65% of nationalised industries to the private sector, the Labour Code is
being watered down regularly, the range of activities in the ‘free trade zones’
is being expanded, and so on.

We therefore
ask you to question your Iranian hosts about their record on democratic and labour rights
as well as the living standards of the workers and the poor. If they wish to be your equal
they should explain why they have killed hundreds of thousands of the most valiant sons
and daughters of the masses, why they have driven millions into exile, why they hold the
remaining millions in a virtual prison that is being prepared for the imperialists to come
in and exploit in the near future.

Many revolutionaries wrinkle their faces when the Venezuelan process is labelled as a "revolution". Nevertheless, there exist signals showing us that the way has been started and the experiences that have taken place during the last five years are being multiplied, letting us see that, in fact, something revolutionary is happening. Knowledge of this and the consequent support for these actions will strengthen the people, reflecting the definitive transformation; should this not happen, undoubtedly the reformist leaders of the process will be exceeded by the revolution itself.

Washington and the opposition are behind the terrorist plot
against Chavez

Colombian paramilitaries arrested in Venezuela

by Alan Woods

The arrests near Caracas on Sunday of up to 80 Colombian paramilitaries
linked to the political opposition confirm suspicions that the counterrevolution
is resorting to ever more desperate and violent measures to overthrow the
government of Hugo Chavez. Reports from Caracas state that the Colombians had
been arrested in a dawn raid on a farm, on the outskirts of the capital,
Caracas, belonging to a Cuban exile.

During his weekly radio and TV broadcast, Hello President, Mr Chavez said
that 53 paramilitary fighters were arrested at the farm early on Sunday and
another 24 were picked up after fleeing into the countryside. Officials say that
90 people have been detained altogether, although some arrests may have been
made later. Another 40 people are still being sought.

The country's security forces were uncovering additional clues and searching
for more suspects, he said, adding that the arrests were proof of a conspiracy
against his government involving Cuban and Venezuelan exiles in Florida and
neighbouring Colombia. President Chavez stated that the plot was backed by
Venezuela's mostly pro-opposition news media and said that the raids had
"eliminated the seed of a terrorist group".

"Now they are importing terrorists," Chavez said of his opponents,
adding that the farm - in the municipality of El Hatillo - was owned by Roberto
Alonso, a Cuban exile with links to Venezuelan and Cuban exiles.

For some time there has been evidence that Colombian death squads were active
on Venezuelan soil. Now this is proved beyond all doubt. There can be no
question that these paramilitary thugs were plotting to strike against the
government in Caracas.

Opposition leaders tried to dismiss the claim, calling the raids on a farm
less than 10 miles from the capital a manoeuvre to divert attention from their
efforts to oust Chavez in a recall vote. They immediately attempted to play down
the significance of the arrests, after it was revealed that the only weapon
found in the raid was a single handgun.

"They didn't even have a nail clipper, their boots were all polished and
their uniforms were ironed," opposition leader Antonia Ledezma told the
Associated Press news agency.

The fact that the paramilitaries were not found in possession of more serious
weaponry does not prove that they were not on a serious mission. It only
indicates that we are in the presence of a very well organised conspiracy with a
wide network of support and a military infrastructure inside Venezuela itself.
The arms for the paramilitaries will be situated elsewhere – probably in some
safe house in Caracas. This would make it safer for them to move around the
country without the risk of arrest for the illegal possession of arms.

It is public knowledge that the right wing opposition has continuously
conspired to overthrow his government with US backing. In April 2002 they
organised a military coup to establish a "democratic dictatorship". That
coup was defeated by the movement of the masses. Later they organised a
so-called "strike" – really a bosses’ lockout that did serious damage to
the economy but was defeated by a movement of the workers.

The latest attempt to provoke a coup was the so-called referendum campaign,
when the opposition resorted to massive fraud, including the signatures of dead
people, children and people who deny ever having signed. It is their complete
failure to win a majority in Venezuela that has impelled them onto the road of
terrorist acts.

The heated denials of the opposition do not carry the least weight. They
offer no explanation for the presence of Colombian paramilitaries on Venezuelan
soil. What were they doing there? Evidently, these individuals were on holiday,
or for the good of their health! However, whether this little visit would have
been healthy for other people is another matter!

The truth is self-evident: The captured men were being trained by the
opposition to stage a coup. Daniel Fonseca, a neighbour living near the farm
where the paramilitaries were caught, said the men had been at the farm for
about 15 days.

"I saw them twice when riding [my] horses," Mr Fonseca told the
Associated Press. "They were dressed as civilians and I saw some of them
with 9mm pistols."

The farm was equipped with abundant quantities of food, provisions, clothes
and about a hundred mattresses. Venezuelan Defence Minister Jorge Garcia told
Reuters news agency there was clear evidence of a conspiracy. "You don't
think these are killers?" he said. "Whatever they came here for, it wasn't
to play marbles or to plant yucca."

Venezuela's defence minister, General Jorge Garcia Carneiro, said
investigators believe the alleged conspiracy was led by former General Felipe
Rodriguez, who led the 2002 rebellion against President Chavez in 2002. General
Rodriguez's whereabouts are not known.

The Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, praised Venezuela for the arrests and
the Colombian government has promised full support in the investigation.
"It is unacceptable for any Colombian to be committing crimes in that
country," Foreign Minister Carolina Barco was quoted as saying.

But nobody will be fooled by this. Uribe cannot publicly admit the
involvement of his government or armed forces in such a blatant act of
interference in a neighbouring state. But the relations between the Colombian
armed forces and the CIA with the fascist paramilitaries is an open secret.

Salvatore Mancuso, a senior commander in the United Self-Defence Forces of
Colombia (AUC), an umbrella group for the country's paramilitary factions,
denied his forces were involved. "We deny the accusations against us by
Venezuelan leaders," Mr Mancuso told Colombia's RCN television, countering
that Chávez was working with Colombia's two largest rebel groups.

For its part, Washington also denies any involvement – of course. US state
department spokesman Richard Boucher rejected accusations of US involvement as
"baseless and irresponsible".

So there we have it. Nobody is responsible. A gang of professional
assassins and right wing terrorists turns up in the vicinity of Caracas, but
nobody knows anything about it. Such an operation requires serious organisation
and generous funding. But nobody is responsible.

The facts speak for themselves. The hand of Washington is clearly behind the
latest plot – and all the others. "There are people in the United States
who keep thinking how to start a war in Venezuela so that they can justify an
invasion," Chavez said.

This assertion is confirmed by the facts. Washington has been systematically
building up the Colombian armed forces under the pretext of the infamous
Colombia Plan. The USA has poured in money, arms and men and this has completely
transformed the regional balance of forces.

As we have already pointed out, before he was ejected by the Spanish people,
Aznar sent a large shipment of tanks to Colombia. This was supposed to be part
of the anti-drugs, anti-guerrilla war, but tanks are of no use in jungles and
mountains. They are only of use in a conventional war against another state. And
that state is called Venezuela.

Both the government of Bogota and Washington are involved up to their necks
in conspiracies and armed provocations against Venezuela. The abject failure of
all the CIA’s plots to overthrow Chavez by relying on internal forces obliges
them to look towards external intervention. That means war. Recently the
Colombian Senate passed a resolution calling on the Organisation of American
States (OAS) to intervene against Venezuela.

A few weeks ago an American general stated publicly that Venezuela was now a
threat to the interests of the USA in South America. It is quite extraordinary
that such a statement should be made by a military figure at all. But if we bear
in mind that the general in question, General James Hill, is the head of the US
army Southern Command, we immediately see the seriousness of the implications.

The attitude of Washington towards the Venezuelan Revolution is well known
and extensively documented. Therefore its denials are worthless. US imperialism
wants to get its hands on Venezuela’s oil. But there is an even more pressing
reason for its desire to overthrow Chavez.

The Venezuelan Revolution is acting as a beacon and a point of reference to
the poor and downtrodden millions throughout Latin America. Washington cannot
afford this. Bush has said publicly that he will not rest until Chavez is
removed from power. The US military intervention in Haiti was a preparation for
an intervention against Venezuela. And if US imperialism succeeds in Venezuela,
the way will be open for further merciless pressure on Cuba.

Everything points to a systematic preparation for armed intervention against
the Venezuelan Revolution. But there is one small problem here. US imperialism
is embroiled in a military quagmire in Iraq that is draining its resources and
causing growing unrest at home. Bush cannot afford to involve the US army in
another military adventure in the immediate future.

This, however, does not mean that there will be no military action against
Venezuela. The CIA is infinitely resourceful and has many irons in many fires.
It will not use US military personnel (except as "advisers" and for
logistical support – that is to plan the operations, and to arm and finance
them). But it will make use of foreign mercenaries – hired cutthroats and
fascists who have unofficially been on the CIA’s payroll for years – to do
the dirty work.

These gangsters are conveniently located in Colombia. They can cross the
border with Venezuela at any time, slipping in and out to do their murderous
work. They are dressed in civilian clothes and speak Spanish with a local
accent. They receive support, hiding places and finance from the Venezuelan
oligarchy and the right wing opposition. Best of all, they do not officially
work for the Colombian government or anyone else. If they are found they will
deny everything. Nobody is responsible for them. What more can one ask?

Venezuelan state television has been showing pictures of armed police
guarding groups of young men dressed in green camouflage. The farm has been
turned into a camp complete with sleeping quarters and cooking facilities. The
men were using the camp to plan an attack on a military installation in Caracas.
This is connected with a broader plan to destabilise Venezuela and create the
conditions for a provocation that could drag it into a war with Colombia. This
is textbook CIA procedure.

The studied denials from Washington, Bogota and the Venezuelan opposition
will fool nobody. In a murder inquiry the first question that must be asked is: who
gains? In this case, the question answers itself. The people who ardently
desire the elimination of Hugo Chavez and the overthrow of his progressive
government are George Bush and the Venezuelan oligarchy.

The CIA and the Venezuelan opposition have collaborated on three occasions to
overthrow the legally elected government and have failed. They have not
abandoned their plans but only modified them to take account of the unfavourable
balance of forces inside Venezuela. The present events could have been foreseen,
and they were foreseen. It was never a question of "if", but only "when
and how."

The recent events confirm what we have said many times: the Venezuelan
Revolution is in danger. The immediate task of the Marxists is to denounce the
plans of the US imperialists, to expose them before the public opinion of the
world and to mobilise the international labour movement in defence of the
Venezuelan Revolution.

A really pernicious role is being played by the mass media in the West. The
newspapers and television companies are in the hands of the millionaires and the
enemies of socialism and the working class. Masquerading under the false banner
of "press freedom" they spread the most disgraceful lies and slanders about
what is happening in Venezuela.

Incredibly, some elements in the labour movement have allowed themselves to
be deceived by this black propaganda and are playing a despicable role,
repeating the lies and slanders put in circulation by the CIA and the right wing
Venezuelan opposition in order to confuse and disorient public opinion. They try
to hide behind the right wing leaders of the CTV, whose links with the CIA are
public knowledge, and who actively backed the coup of 2002.

In addition to launching a campaign of systematic disinformation, the
millionaire press has organised a conspiracy of silence so that the working
people of Europe and the USA do not know what is happening. It is vital that
this curtain of silence is torn down and that the international labour movement
is made aware of the intrigues of US imperialism against Venezuela.

The imperialists always act like thieves in the night, under the cover of
darkness. It is necessary to shine a bright light on their secretive and
murderous activities. It is time to organise a massive protest movement to
denounce the counterrevolutionary intrigues of Washington and its agents in
Venezuela, and also the despicable role of the hired press that is a willing
servant and an active accomplice of imperialism.

There is no time to lose! Organise protests and pickets outside the US and
Colombian embassies. Send letters of protest to the governments of both
countries. Pass resolutions of support for Venezuela in every trade union branch
and other labour movement organisation. Let them know that the eyes of the world
are on them and that they will not escape condemnation but stand exposed as the
common criminals they are.